That would be a legitimate question to ask, if we didn’t know, or just chose to ignore, or were simply not experiencing this statistic: Only one in ten persons that respond to the Gospel maintain their profession of faith after a year.
Irrespective of which continent you are on, this has to be a concern to those of us who genuinely want to see God’s kingdom come. Over and above that, those of us who are committed to mission and harvest will recall that the command of Jesus is to go and make disciples.
MULTIPLYING DISCIPLESHIP – JESUS’ COMMAND
Jesus commands us to make disciples like he did: disciples that will make disciples. He prescribed the way to do immediate follow-up – confirming repentance, and belief in Jesus as God become man, dying to wash away our sins, and rising to give us eternal life. The true expression of their belief is a commitment to follow Jesus as Lord. Then they are immediately taught about and encouraged to receive believers baptism.
Those who are not truly ready to repent are forwarded to the traditional follow-up team who essentially re-present the Gospel to them, explaining what is repentance and why it is necessary.
NEGLIGIBLE EXTRA COST, POTENTIALLY CONTINUALLY INCREASING BENEFIT
In the parable of the talents, Jesus commands us to be good stewards, and commends those who multiply what they are given. We are commanded to reach entire villages, cities and nations. There are three things that should make us sit up and take notice of multiplying discipleship, if we indeed have the Kingdom of God at heart.
- This is how Jesus fulfilled his mission, and this is therefore how we are commanded to fulfill our mission
- This is a credible, realistic way to reach entire villages, cities and nations with the message of who Jesus really is.
- Our present methods of growth by addition (even if there was 100% retention of fruits) would require enormous financial outlays in church planting and setting up costly discipleship arrangements to reach entire cities and nations with a personal revelation of who Jesus really is.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
If there is a way of fulfilling the Great Commission with the resources we currently have, and in the short time we have available to us, and which our Master has modeled for us, is there any excuse for not utilizing it?
WHY TRAINING IS REQUIRED
Multiplying discipleship is simple, but it requires the adoption of new ways of thinking in our local churches. This is why we are offering a training program that essentially comes alongside local churches and provides structures that allow for the safe adoption of new ways of discipleship.
Here are some of the paradigms that we assist churches to embrace, in order to make use of this incredible gift of wisdom provided us by our Lord.
- The principle of obedience. We are commanded to obey Jesus’ commands, not because this is the way of being righteous, but because obedience is the expression of faith which releases the grace of God to operate powerfully in the life of a new believer.
- Make the bar of inclusion high. Don’t be afraid of an initial reduction in numbers. Quality disciples multiply.
- Obedient disciples can be immediately trained as leaders, and can disciple others!
- Every believer can effectively share their faith
- Every believer can pray for their family, friends and workmates
- Every believer can heal the sick, and cast out devils if necessary.
- Believers can make disciples more easily in the marketplace and the community than in church, because they have more access to them in their course of their daily lives.
- Discipleship is best done by demonstrating, then delegating and assisting, then lovingly monitoring how the disciple does what the discipler demonstrated. Jesus who is present and living inside of us overcomes the challenges of daily life and thereby makes us effective witnesses. What we must demonstrate to a disciple is how we communicate the Good News of what God has provided and promises us, and how we bear witness to the fact we are enjoying, and can therefore testify to, the reality of those promises. This produces disciples that are pursuing their discipler, and disciples who are obeying the commands of Jesus IN FAITH. In other words, they are literally faithfully obedient.
HOW TO ACCESS THIS TRAINING
In the article following the next one, we will see how to access this training in your area.
